Is It Really A Robot?

Ask a man in solitary confinement if he wants just an hour of freedom a day. I tell you, he will live for it. Robots are my freedom - Henry Evans, quadriplegic and user of Willow Garage's PR2 robot.

A lot of news out there from the evolving world of what we now affectionately call robotics. The main issue on the table is that these so-called robots cropping up everywhere, might not really be robots, rather more connected devices parading as robots.

Courtesy of Grishin Robotics

In the past two years, we have seen more "pop sensations" in the robot world - Sony's Aibo, Sphero, Q.bo, Romo - rather than functional service robots that will improve our lives like Hector, robotic assistance for the elderly or PR2 from Willow Garage who is giving Henry Evans, who after a brain stem stroke was left mute and quadriplegic, a new lease on life.

What we do see is along the lines of entertainment-type connected devices. Like the newest kitsch-esque device, Autom which is essentially your own weight loss journal in physical form in the guise of a robot - i.e. talking weight loss coach. Autom was the subject of a new kind of start-up funding by PCH International who declared in October they would commit to mass produce the device.

Others struggle. For more than a year, The Criif's semi humanoid, SAMI has had the same cartoon-like head and mannequin-muscled body with limited functionality, slowly moving its hand to catch a dropping ball or drinking a glass of water. While robots in labs like Disney Research, have done more with basic sensors to help move us forward with motion, action and reaction. This development can be applied to so many situations that could actually improve our work environment or increase the range of movement for those with disabilities, etc.

Steve Cousin's, CEO of Willow Garage told Forbes he believes that robotics is still in the early stages and there's still a lot of work to be done.

Rethink Robotics' Baxter. Photo: David Yellen for IEEE Spectrum

"Over the next five years, we will see more robotic platforms come out of the cage in the industrial space, like Baxter, and begin to move into hospitals, our homes and work environments," said Cousins. "We will build more mobile platforms that will only become autonomous when it becomes more affordable."

But ask people what a robot is and they will tell you different things.

"Maybe we don't want to call them robots anymore, maybe they are a remote presence system or device, something that lets you be where you are not," said Cousins. "There is a shift in the industry that is coming from sensor technology in the market and we are moving out of cages to working alongside people."

Colin Angle, CEO of iRobot says a robot is something that uses sensors to perceive information to understand the world and then uses artificial intelligence to process what it saw, then applies some kind of physical actuation in its environment.

He also says firmly that new companies should stop calling themselves a robotics company. "To succeed you have to solve a problem, not just say I make robots."

Angle adds, the whole freight train that has moved robotics forward has come from gaming and includes the sensors from Primesense.

"Their sensors have been game changing for us - you raise your hands in front of your robot and something happens and that's exciting because it creates more intuitive interfaces. Being able to sense it sees, increases the robot's ability to perceive the will of the person it is interacting with."

iRobot is unique and has been an incubator, like WillowGarage, for unleashing technology and ideas into the rapidly morphing robotics ecosystem. The company's two other original founders, Helen Grenier and Rodney Brooks, have gone onto found two new second generation robotics companies - Brooks' Rethink Robotics and Grenier's new start up, CyPhy Works, which recently acquired $3m in funding for her unmanned air vehicles (UAV).

2012 marks the 10 year anniversary of iRobot's Roomba in the marketplace. Angle says there's no particular reason that it couldn’t have had its 20th anniversary.

"The technology wasn’t the problem, it was the entrepreneur because robotics business models are complicated," adds Angle. "You need to bring together a lot of firepower and expertise in robotics to get something into the market -- expertise in manufacturing, expertise in the end-user market and in our case, three and half years with SC Johnson learning how to clean floors and a partnership with Hasbro to learn how to design a device that would fit those cleaning specs."

The two founders of OpenRov - an open source underwater robots for education and and exploration, even have different views. Eric Stackpole, co-founder says that a robot can’t be defined by what Isaac Asimov's basic theory anymore. "A robot is what we use in place of a human to accomplish the four D's - anything task that is dirty, dull, distant and dangerous, but we like to add deep to that. It's a man-made creation with the capacity to move in some way and be given instructions."

His co-founder and OpenRov CEO, David Lang says that robots are machines that can sense and actuate. "Robots can perceive something, the line is fuzzy though, they can sense how dirty your dishes are and then clean them a certain way, but a lot people don’t even think that is a robot. So it's very subjective, people only call them robots when they start to have a character or personality. Humans have always been tool builders, not the tools we are building, are just getting more complex."

But ask Henry Evans what a robot is, and it won't be a connected device that's disguised as a robot.

"Robots allow you to exert your free will on your environment again-and that reminds you that you are still human. They provide you with a direct ability to manipulate things when and how YOU want to without your will being filtered through somebody else. Sure, today's robot's are slow and clunky. Think of them as Avatars in process."

I'm a writer who looks at innovation and how technology and science intersect with industry, arts, agriculture, mobility, health. I've been called the tech Hemingway of Paris, named one of the top 100 women in technology in Europe in 2012, short-listed for best tech journali...